


A Bell Through The Night

by fascination_street



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Gallus is alive, Lady Noc: Manipulatrix Extrordinaire, More Tags To Be Added As Relevant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-09 00:51:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17396972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fascination_street/pseuds/fascination_street
Summary: In all her cagey mystery, Lady Nocturnal decides Gallus isn't quite ready for Evergloam. The feat of breathing life back into death may not come at such a small price, though.





	1. Preface: Ebonmere

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been listening to that new Ariana Grande song with the whistle notes pretty often lately and it reminded me vaguely of Karliah in such a bittersweet way. So naturally I went and played through the whole Thieves' Guild questline three times (as you do in these situations) and as a result my love for Galliah has come back with a vengeance.  
> Fair warning, writing this story is peak self-indulgent stress-writing for me. Hence, it's not super polished, but I thought I may as well share it because there's just not enough content for this quality rarepair as it is.
> 
> The rating is very much subject to change later for language and content. I will also be taking some sliiiight artistic license with the lore and stretching certain assumptions and technicalities. There's a big one that'll be pretty obvious when I get to it, but I'll try and make it as smooth as possible, so please don't rally an angry mob around my house haha :)!

Thousands, perhaps millions of invisible threads tug at every nerve in this form of his, pulling Gallus's spectral form up from the swirling pool, suspending him and flipping him up face-to-face with Nocturnal. _Nerves_ … since when has he been able to feel any stimulus so keenly? Not since the ragged pain of his flesh tearing through, rending muscle from bone, puncturing clear through his lung. A whole quarter-century ago, as told by the kind Nightingale he'd spoken with just before.

This is no less painful, but in the way one feels when a limb comes back to life after sleeping too long upon it. Perhaps the same total amount of pain, but spread throughout everywhere at once rather than condensed in one fatal area. The pins and needles become overwhelming, but he cannot cry out; remaining paralyzed in midair by the Daedric prince before him. The ether-spun threads jerk and twitch, knitting themselves into him and writhing under the surface of his shape.

 

"Your work on Nirn isn’t finished, you see. There is a task you must fulfill for me yet, my clever one.”

 

 _What,_ he thinks; if his inner voice could scream, _could you possibly want from me still?_

 

“Something only you are in the position to give me, Nightingale.” the serpentine voice echoes through the chamber, “I admit, it is extraneous to the limits of your original oath... however, I have reason to believe you'll be quite agreeable with your end of the bargain." Nocturnal flicks her wrist over him in a swirl of lavender light; the feeling reminiscent of finally taking a deep breath after hiding underwater to evade the town guard a minute too long.

 

"When the time comes, there will be no mistaking it... in fact, you likely won't even consciously set the chain of events into motion." She waves her hand again with a flourish, and the threads pack themselves denser within him, heavier. "Consider this resurgence my conditional gift to help see it through to the end. I am assured, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you will not disappoint me once more. Do not make me rue my words, Nightingale.”

 

Before he has the chance to properly contemplate what she means by _resurgence_ , he learns quickly that wind _can_ be knocked out of him as he drops straight to the cold stone below. A wave of nausea overtakes him, and for a moment he fears he could perish all over again just choking on his own vomit without a way to turn himself over. As the darkness creeps closer from the edges of his vision, the last thing he hears is a voice he would recognize anywhere in an instant. But a voice he would never expect to hear so soon; nor carrying a tone so tearful and terrified.

 

_“Gallus!”_


	2. Tether

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd originally had the chapters a bit longer but I'd like to keep perspective shifts contained so I broke this one up at the risk of leaving some would-be plotholes unfilled for the moment. 
> 
> Again a gentle reminder that the ratings will be modified as needed; I won't be shoehorning explicitly lewd things in here for just the sake of it, but if that's the direction the story winds up naturally flowing then the warnings will update accordingly for reader discretion.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~That being said, Karliah deserves to hop on that Imperial greatsword to her heart's content, poor dear.~~

He doesn’t see her shaking, nor does he hear shrieking over his body; doesn’t feel himself being carried off, dressed, spoon-fed healing potions. He might drift close enough to the surface of consciousness to feel the gentle yet terrified caress of her hand against his forehead, brushing sweat-dampened locks of hair out of the way, yet he sees none of the worry written across her face.

 

But his body hasn’t been stitched back together so thoroughly only to linger more than it has to. He has work to do, a sense of purpose that pulls at him no matter how ambiguous the conditions have been left; he has to take care of something. Something. Someone? _Someone_. Someone right here. A feeling clicks into place, one more pin in the cylinder of a lock, a note scribbled in the margin of a tome that brings some previously cloudy concept to light. Not enough. But it’s solid enough to shift his weight upon and start pushing forward.

 

When he comes to once and for all, the first thing he observes is the sensation of rolling ground beneath him, steady along the cobblestones; the faint clop-clopping of hoofbeats just ahead, but not too far. _Road. Cart._ _Moving._ The sunlight aches straight through the back of his eyelids, and his brow furrows in reflex to keep them shut them tight against it.

 

The second thing he observes is that he’s breathing, and without much thought to it either. It’s a sound he hasn’t heard in first-person in quite a while...

 

_Your work on Nirn isn’t finished._

 

Nocturnal hadn’t meant--  no, it couldn’t be. _Resurgence_ echoes in his mind, over and over, in that cold voice. He’s overwhelmed with the urge to cough and sputter before the thought can fully form in his mind, and his eyes open against his will not to be assaulted head-on by the light overhead. He groans, but stops short; for there, in the corner of the cart, in all her slumped-over slumbering glory…

That's it. That's what tugs at the invisible string of purpose, though he still grasps for specifics that elude him-- somehow it's to do with her, and right now he needs her as close as possible above all else. Another layer of fog, cleared away, and in spite of the many in front of him, his next breath is the tiniest bit easier.

 

“‘Liah…” he mouths, throat dry, the disbelief fully settling into him. Ever the light sleeper, the elf shakes herself awake and gasps in awareness, clambering over to where he lay supine.

 

“Gallus!” she cries softly, crouching over him and bringing her hand to his forehead. “Divines, it’s been two days, I’d tried to keep vigil and stay conscious, but, you...”

 

“Karliah” he whispers, unable to stop the weak but warm smile from crossing his face. “Little Nightingale, it’s you…”

 

“It’s _you.._.” her fingers sweep along his stubbly jaw in a tender caress, lingering there. The green in the trees overhead do something marvelous to the indigo of her eyes, making it stand out brighter, more vivid than his memory has ever done justice.

 

He’s hyper-aware of his pulse thumping in his neck, his head, his chest; sturdily moving blood through what must be recently regenerated vessels. Slowly he lifts an arm, testing its weight, and lets his palm settle on her back, gently pushing her closer to his body. His body-- gods, he had a body! Not just a hollow imitation to frighten would-be intruders. A living, aching body; with a heart so heavy and full he feels it could burst.

 

“Come to me, Karliah, please…”

 

She doesn’t need to be asked twice; restraint and concern showing on her face as she resists throwing herself onto him. Slowly, she wraps her body over his, clutching stronger, breath deep and controlled as though she believes she might break him with one wrong move.

 

“I thought it might... “ she wheezes a tiny bit, stumbling over her words, and he can tell she’s struggling. “Two whole days, thought… I’d get used to the idea, you've... you've been here, but…” Her hand rests over his heart, shy, and then firm.

 

He feels her head shaking, and wetness trickling down his neck where she’s burrowed her face.

 

“ _How?_ ” she whispers, leaning up to look him in the eyes, tear tracks along her cheeks confirming his suspicion.

 

“Nocturnal,” he whispers, “She wants me around a bit longer, it seems. Said she wanted something done, and I’m the only man for the job. Just my luck, hm?” Gallus smiles, gently brushing his thumb along her face to clear Karliah’s tears away, but more just come to take their place. He has a better idea, and steels himself to lean up and press his lips to her cheekbone.

 

It’s only a moment, just one still moment, before something breaks between them; palpable in the air. She collapses fully upon him, lips finding his, letting out a strangled sob that he swallows up as he moves his in tandem. Her weight doesn’t hurt him; in fact, he pulls her tighter still, wishing more than anything that he might kiss away the grief and pain she’s carried for this long. She opens her mouth to him, tongue swirling at his lip, breaking apart to gasp before diving right back in to let him tell her where words fail.

 

 _Gallus, Gallus, Gallus,_ she mouths again and again, whimpering, pressing her body into his like she’s fearful he might disappear. He rubs along her back in reassurance as she covers his face in frantic kisses; dragging her hands along his neck, his chest. He can’t hold her tight enough, it seems; can’t meld her into his body and absorb all the grief that’s worn dark circles under her eyelids and marks into her lips where she’s worried at them with her teeth again and again.

 

He’s here, and not leaving; not that he could even conceive the thought. He’d yet to breathe a word of it to her the last time they’d spoken, but he’d have taken Mara’s oaths for her in a heartbeat. Nothing in him has changed, if anything with years of silent contemplation it was his among his heaviest regrets that he’d never spoken of it. How different things may or may not have unfolded, he had spent enough time in that isolated Sepulchre with only his thoughts and what-ifs to dwell on it now when she’s _right here_ , warm and wanting and wracking against him.

He’d do twenty-five more just to feel her near again. Twenty-five more to hear the smile in her voice, see her laugh unrestrained, swinging her hair over her shoulder without care, grinning back at whatever stupid quip he’d made.

 

By Nocturnal’s strange grace, he wouldn’t need to; but he would do it without contest, without question.

 

He feels like he could go on forever, drinking her in; a hot weight settling in his belly and simmering as her hips begin to shift against him. This body and its nerve endings are so new, so fresh; and he hasn’t felt anything like this in so long. Gallus can’t help but let out a low groan into her neck, visceral memories flooding back of nights spent tangled together, high on adrenaline from the thrill of a job with nowhere to channel it afterwards but into each other.

 

The sound of the carriage driver clearing his throat from several feet away and above awkwardly snaps him into awareness, giving Karliah a grin that’s half mischievous and half embarrassed as she quietly pulls away. Pieces of her hair are falling out all over where she’s got them pinned back. The peaks of her cheekbones are just the slightest touch purple, and her lips parted and slightly swollen, a shade darker than before.

 

Nerves. New nerves. New nerves not behaving so well. He tries with all his might not to let his mind wander to the other parts of her that blush varying shades of purple; red blood flushing under soft, grey skin. He could recall all he wanted as a spectre; but could never feel so keenly without a body to react in kind. And now, only the briefest entertainment of the thought has him almost in pain.

 

The full realization that he’s dressed in cloth trousers only worsens matters; his only refuge being the tattered blanket that lay balled up at his side. As casually as possible, he tugs it open and over his lower half; moreso for the comfort level of the cart driver than anything.

 

Indigo eyes, this time dilated wide, meet his again. And he sees _want_ , but there’s an underlying sorrow in the tilt of them that was never there before. There’s tiredness. There’s a certain kind of agony that he can’t fully comprehend, and he knows it.

 

He knows then that part of this purpose of returning is to undo as much of it as he can. Immediately, it begins to drive him more than the plan of any heist. He wants Karliah to learn to smile again. Often, and without reservation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I largely hate Discord because it's a RAM-hogging, data-harvesting botnet; however comma, if there exists a TES-for-absolute-goobers server in the year 2019, I would be indebted to the kind soul that points me to it. I need to explain my passions and drop some piping-hot memes.

**Author's Note:**

> P.S: the title is drawn from the fact that Kar's an alchemist, a very witchy trade. Additionally, there's no doubt in my mind that in a modern-style AU, Dralsi would have raised her on the Tamrielic version of Fleetwood Mac.
> 
> (the au which I may or may not have also already outlined and mapped out but shh)


End file.
